Eagles shut down Rams

The Rams were held to negative yards of offense in a 27-0 loss to Clarke County in Bull Run District football action.

“I thought we played very well,” Clarke County coach Chris Parker said. “We were a little bit out of sync. Any time you can shut the other team out and score four touchdowns, as we did, you have to be happy. I think we held them to negative yards offense. …I can’t really complain.”

The Rams finished with -12 yards of offense, but 26 of those yards came on a punt which sailed over Strasburg punter Josh Pritchett’s head. It was the second straight game that Strasburg has been held scoreless.

The Eagles scored on their second drive of the game. Clarke County went 56 yards on seven plays, all of which were runs.

Jaxon Ottobre ran for 21 yards on the first play of the drive. Hunter Rogers capped things off with an 8-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead with 16 seconds left in the first quarter.

Strasburg had an opportunity in the second quarter after a short punt gave the Rams the ball at the Clarke County 33-yard line.

Strasburg quarterback Adam Miller connected with Josh Pritchett for 9 yards on he first play. Miller was sacked on the next play, and then had a pass intercepted by Clarke County’s Will Roper at the Clarke County 24 on the following play with 5:58 left in the first half.

“We’re struggling offensively,” Strasburg coach Mark Roller said. “Of course, with a good team you can’t give them as many breaks as we gave them.

“…We got to figure out a way to get the ball back in the end zone.”

The Eagles took advantage of the miscue. The Eagles needed only five plays to extend the lead. Clarke County quarterback Jordon Turner scored on a 45-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 lead with 3:37 left in the opening half.

Strasburg (3-3, 0-2 Bull Run) had only 1 yard of offense in the first half, as Miller was sacked three times for a loss of 24 yards.

“We really didn’t have any time to pass,” Roller said. “They’re pretty good up front. It’s not that our lineman didn’t do a good job, it’s the fact that those guys are pretty good. They just pin their ears back and come at you, and they hit you.”

Miller was intercepted by Clarke County’s Michael Fields at the Strasburg 18-yard line, and one play later the Eagles capitalized.

Turner scored on an 18-yard touchdown run with 6:17 left in the third quarter.

The Eagles (5-1, 3-0 Bull Run) added another score in the fourth quarter on a 14-play 83-yard drive. Matthew Dang scored on a 23-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 27-0 with 5:39 left in the game.

“We had our opportunities. Against a good team you’ve got to capitalize, and we just didn’t do that,” Roller said.

The Eagles ran for 298 yards, including 100 yards for Turner.

Parker said he was pleased overall with how his team played.

“We’re undefeated in the district, and our goal is to do what we have to do to win out in the regular season,” Parker said. “That’s our goal, and then we’ll take it from there.”

Justin Carr led the Rams offensively with 32 yards rushing on nine carries. Strasburg had only two first down in the game.

Roller said the Rams need to get back to fundamentals on offense.

“We got to execute better in all facets of the game, in the passing game, running routes, blocking,” Roller said. “It’s not that those guys can’t do those things. It’s we’re just not fundamentally sound right now, and we need to get back to that.”